Chief Justice says dealing with diversity most challenging issue facing the world

The most challenging issue facing the world today is how we deal with diversity in society, said Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin during a public lecture on Monday at Congress 2016, which is being held at the University of Calgary this week.

“Everywhere in the world, nations are, it seems, wrestling with this question,” said McLachlin to an audience of about 500, including academics, lawyers and students, who filled an auditorium and the hall outside. “How do we deal with … the ‘other,’ with the person who is different in a majoritarian society?”

Referencing international events, including European countries’ strategies to stem the tide of refugees from war-torn countries and U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s proposal to keep foreign Muslims out of the U.S., she said that Canada’s diversity is an “asset” and “tremendous source of strength.”

“(But) there is work to be done, as the constant discrimination against members of the aboriginal community attest,” said McLachlin. She praised Canada for largely responding to diversity with inclusion, rather than exclusion, though she has said in the past that Canada attempted to commit “cultural genocide” against indigenous peoples.

In the ongoing process of building an inclusive society, it is individuals who are on the “front line” with their day-to-day actions, McLachlin added.

“We cannot delegate the business of building an inclusive society to government or the courts. They can help, but they can never be the foundation.”

McLachlin’s views were shaped by an indigenous man who approached her with a gift of earrings handcrafted from mother of pearl during the centennial celebrations for her hometown of Pincher Creek a few years ago. The man, named Eric, said he was giving them to her out of respect for her parents.

On a hot Sunday in July when the two were still children, Eric and his family were sitting in their car outside McLachlin’s home. His father and McLachlin’s father were discussing some business, when McLachlin’s mother came out and invited them in for tea and cake to celebrate her father’s birthday. Eric had never forgotten that day because it was the first time he had been inside a white person’s house.

“It affected me profoundly,” recalled McLachlin, explaining that it led her to conclude that the “most basic responsibility” for creating an inclusive society rests with individuals.

“I understood how the simple acts of everyday people could make a profound difference in a child’s life,” she said.

Canadians can foster a culture of inclusion through individual actions, as well as through private and public discussions, including in venues like churches, synagogues and mosques, McLachlin added.

She used the example of someone meeting a Muslim woman in a hijab. An individual might respond to the difference positively and look at it as an asset or reject it and discriminate against the Muslim woman.

As for the laws, courts and political institutions, their role is to carry social values forward from generation to generation by laying out what a nation stands for, to set standards for society and to hold people accountable for actions that go against them, McLachlin said.

“The rule of law means that conflicts between groups within society are defined peacefully and fairly,” she explained.

McLachlin highlighted cases in which the Supreme Court had resolved controversial disputes related to cultural issues. These included decisions in favour of a group of Jewish condo owners, allowing them to put up religious structures on their balconies; Muslim women wishing to cover their faces during citizenship ceremonies; and a Sikh student who wanted to carry a small ceremonial dagger to a school with a no-weapons policy.

Canada’s future “depends on recognizing the need to reject exclusion and favour cultural inclusion,” she said.

The lecture was received positively by the audience with many, including students and researchers, describing it as inspiring.

“There is no other way forward,” McLachlin said in her concluding remarks. “Diverse as we are, we are all in the same boat.”

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Chief Justice says dealing with diversity most challenging issue facing the world